French politicians have given the thumbs up to a controversial copyright bill that will call for Apple to makes its iPod player and iTunes software compatible with rival offerings.

The vote on the legislation, which Apple has dubbed ‘State-Sponsored Piracy’, means the proposed bill could become law before the summer is out. At the moment, songs downloaded using Apple’s iTunes music download service can only be player on Apple iPods. The law calls for changes to allow consumers that download songs via iTunes to be able to play them on any player they like while songs downloaded from rival services should be allowed to play on the iPod. There is a loophole that Apple can exploit to dodge the data-sharing bit but it will require it making new deals with record labels and music artists.

This law is good news for consumers but Apple has threatened that if the bill becomes law it will shut down iTunes France. However, Apple knows that it can’t do that everywhere and it will have to come up with a compromise eventually since similar laws are currently under discussion in the UK, Norway, Sweden, Poland and Denmark. There’s only so often you can throw your toys out of the pram and while Apple shareholders might stomach the loss of some francs they will not support such action on a wholesale basis.

technology News apple iPod iTunes Music